Samsung Flexible Smartphone Display Unveiling At CES 2013?

Samsung's latest efforts in flexible smartphone displays have sparked numerous rumors, but now it seems the world might get to see them soon.

According to company representatives from Samsung Display, a spin-off from Samsung Electronics, the company will be showing off a pair of bendable screens at the Consumer Electronics Show 2013. The new flexible displays could someday appear in a radically new smartphone or TV design, revolutionizing what is currently available.

CES attendees will get to witness the unveiling of a 5.5-inch flexible display with a 1,280 x 720-pixel resolution, intended for smartphone use. Moreover, the company will also show off a television-size 55-inch flexible display.

A flexible screen provides design freedom, Samsung Display told CNET, noting that its demo screens are able to curve without rending, but they do not roll up yet.

The display company not only needs to create the material that becomes the main substance of the flexible screen, but its labs must develop the touch panel and cover lens as well, as those two components are also essential to making a screen.

Samsung has been working on curving displays for a while, and even showed off smaller display demos such as the 4.5-inch WVGA screen that packed a pixel density of roughly 200 pixels per inch (ppi). The new demo's increased resolution and screen size proves that Samsung is striving to stay on top of today's growing smartphone expectations.

Samsung Display, however, is not the only company working on such research and development endeavors. Rival companies such as LG and Nokia have also demonstrated bendy prototypes for smartphones and tablets lately, indicating that pliable electronics is definitely something to come soon.

Meanwhile, Samsung Display is not only focusing its efforts on demonstrating flexible screens, but the company has also showcased a 30-inch transparent display made of glass. Just like the bendable screens, this transparent glass panel is a new iteration of an older project, a project that Samsung has been working on for several years.

Come January, Samsung's new flexible displays may become reality, and smartphones may head to a completely new direction.